Agriculture Committee on Oct. 29th, 2013

[A voice]

Yes, if it's written.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Okay. And when I present it to you it's the 48 hours; it's not after translation, correct?

[A voice]

That's right.

[The Clerk]

Exactly. If you have it in both languages, of course, I'll accept it. If not, it's going to be translated. But 4 o'clock is to receive it in one language.

[Randy Hoback, Conservative, Prince Albert, SK]

Okay. Perfect.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

But if an oral motion comes up during the meeting, it is considered that whatever official language it is presented in, the translation then is accepted as the second language, so it's in both official languages. It doesn't have to be written: it is at the clerk. Okay.

Any further discussion?

It's moved by Mr. Hoback.

(Motion agreed to)

The next motion is in regard to the time for opening remarks and questioning of witnesses: that witnesses shall be allowed up to ten minutes to make their opening statement. During the questioning of witnesses, there be allocated five minutes for the first two rounds of questioning, and that subsequent rounds of questioning be at the discretion of the chair.

Are there any questions?

Mr. Harris.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

Mr. Chair, having served on several committees, I notice that in many cases chairs are very lenient with the ten minutes. Seeing as how I am a newcomer here, could I ask and hope that you aren't lenient on the ten minutes, and that ten minutes means ten minutes?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

Okay.

Are there other comments? I want to take some direction. I have my own opinion and it is that we have a time schedule for a reason. Similarly, that also goes for the five minutes of questioning. I'll maybe give some leniency in terms of the wrapping up, but I really want to stay as close to time to get as many questions in for the witnesses as is possible.

I think the message to the members is that if you want to eat up your time on the preamble, that's your choice, but if you want to get the questions out, that's also your choice.

So that you know, I'm going to exercise some discretion. It depends where we're at, and I'll take that on as the chair. But it is my thought that we should respect the time the presenters give us, and also respect the time of each of the members to ask their questions.

I'm assuming we would wish to stay with the five-minute rounds as we go down the line. There have been times where we have a bit of time at the end, and that becomes subject to discussion with the chair as to allowing maybe two-minute rounds to get a couple of questions in. I will try to be fair with that. That's why I believe the motion is written the way it is.

I have a motion on the floor. It is moved by Mr. Payne.

(Motion agreed to)

There is one more, I believe, and it's the order of questions. This has to do with the speaking order: that the order of questions for the first round of questioning shall be as follows: New Democrats, Conservatives, and Liberals. Questioning during the second round shall be as follows: Conservatives, New Democrats, Conservatives, New Democrats, Conservatives, New Democrats, Conservatives, and Conservatives. Based on the principle that each committee member should have a full opportunity to question the witnesses, if time permits, further rounds shall be at the discretion of the chair—this goes back to the comment on the earlier motion.

Are there questions?

It's moved by Mr. Zimmer.

(Motion agreed to)

I believe that wraps up the standing rules.

For your information, before we get to any questions, I think everyone knows it, but there is a delegation of financial authority, which I signed because I was asked to. This is to inform you that I wish to delegate the authority for expenditure initiation of up to $10,000 for travel expenditures, up to $5,000 for conference fees and membership fees, and up to $1,000 for hospitality expenditures—that's where the sandwiches kick in—

[The Clerk]

No.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

No? Okay, then it comes under the $10,000. And I delegate the authority for payment certificates of up to $10,000, as well as contracting authority for services up to $50,000, to Jean Michel Roy, Clerk of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food, and that is effective today. This delegation is consistent with the financial policies for committees as established by the Board of Internal Economy, in particular Matrix III of the “Delegation of Financial Signing Authorities Policy” of the House of Commons.

I'll be honest with you, I have not heard that before. It's simply something we sign, so I thought I would let you know about it.

Regarding the blues of meetings, the following is an unofficial unedited transcript of a meeting of the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food. This document has been sent for information purposes only. It may not be quoted as it may contain transcript errors. The edited and translated transcript will be available on the committee's website within the next two weeks.

Help me, Michel, with what this actually really all means.

[The Clerk]

In the previous session, anyone, even outside the Hill, who wanted to get a copy of the blues electronically could get it. It's simply a question of whether you want to continue the same procedure.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

Are there any questions?

Mr. Eyking.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

I don't see a reason why you couldn't have made that public if you're talking about the blues.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

Actually, it did come forward as part of the business.

Michel.

[The Clerk]

Some committees, a very limited number, decided to keep the blues only for the members of their committee. I was on the industry committee and it was available to anyone from the public.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

This edited version will be available in the committee. So the following are unofficial and official edited. Who is this available to?

[The Clerk]

The one you have received is only for the members of the committee. On the website it's only if you're on the Hill. We make a PDF copy and we can send that to anybody outside the Hill.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

This is for the public meetings, right?

[The Clerk]

It's only for the public meetings.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

Any questions?

I don't need a motion; it's for information.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Since you're talking about public meetings, what's public and what's not?

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

In camera meetings are not public.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

When we're in camera it's not going to be made public.

[The Chair, Conservative, Bev Shipley]

Those are for the meetings that are not in camera.

[Mark Eyking, Liberal, Sydney—Victoria, NS]

Right.